Speakers

NZ Fintech Summit 2018 will be delivered by an outstanding line-up of thought leaders who have been secured to present their views on each of their respective areas of expertise.

True to its style, the event is obsessed with finding the best people to deliver on cutting-edge issues - those who can instigate debate and discussion and provide attendees with enough to contemplate on how emerging trends may impact their businesses.

This year, NZ Fintech Summit 2018 features a range of thought leaders playing on top of their chosen fields.

Hon. Kris Faafoi,

Minister of Commerce

Hon. Kris Faafoi was elected as the Member of Parliament for Mana in November 2010, following more than a decade working as a journalist at both TVNZ and the BBC. He is now the Minister for Civil Defence and Commerce and Consumer Affairs, as well as the Associate Immigration Minister. In the area of Civil Defence, Kris has a strong vision for ensuring that both government and communities are prepared to look after each other in the event of a local or national emergency.

As the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, he’s committed to ensuring the wheels of commerce move smoothly and that New Zealand capitalises on every advantage it can to grow our economy, jobs wages and opportunities. Kris lives in Porirua with his partner Mae and has three sons.

Liz Geor,

Industry Manager, Financial Services, Google NZ

Prior to Google, Liz spent 10 years in Australia working in communications agencies across some of Australia’s largest financial services brands. Most recently, Liz was the driving force behind CHE Proximity’s data driven media offering. She was responsible for creating a true end-to-end 'customer experience' by bringing media into CHE Proximity and creating an entirely new department that encompasses both owned and bought channels integrated through all capacity.

Liz has a clear vision: that customer experience is a source of competitive advantage and is passionate about helping her clients get there through their use of data and technology. It is that vision that has led to her secondment to New York to work across AT&T and on many global network projects. She has was also personally awarded The Australian B&T Women in Media, Media Agency award in 2016.

Richard Dellabarca

CEO, NZ Venture Investment Fund

Richard has held a variety of leadership roles in venture capital and private equity backed opportunities, capital markets and financial technology in Europe, Asia and North America. He has extensive investment banking experience, working in Australian and New Zealand in mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets.

He also serves on the boards of Kea NZ, the NZ Rugby Union, Harmoney and the Blues.

He has an MBA from Cambridge University and is qualified as a barrister and solicitor, and chartered accountant. Richard is a member of the Institute of Directors New Zealand.

Anita Parag

Programme Lead, ASB

Anita Parag is ASB’s Programme Lead for Josie, the first human-like interface powered by AI to be used in Australasian banking. In her 10 years at ASB she has focused on product development, design thinking and innovation. Her past roles in other green-field projects include:

• Product Lead for the award winning Clever Kash, the world’s first digital moneybox

• Senior Product Manager for HomePlus - ASB the first major NZ bank to launch a Home Equity Release product.

Anita is passionate about ensuring innovations solve a real customer need and crucially, can be delivered to market.

Craig Kirk

Co-founder & Director, Delta Insurance Group

Craig is an experienced insurance executive and entrepreneur. He co-founded the Delta Insurance Group which operates in the Asia Pacific region. Established in 2014 it has offices throughout New Zealand and in Singapore. Prior to founding Delta Insurance Craig held a number of senior executive, underwriting and portfolio management roles for global insurance companies in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Cove Insurance, a New Zealand insurtech start-up.

Craig has a Master of Applied Finance and Investment, a Bachelor of Business and is a member of a number of professional bodies including ANZIIF, the NZ Institute of Directors. Craig is a fintech enthusiast and is passionate about embracing technology. He is on the Executive Council of FinTechNZ and is on the leadership committee of InsurTechNZ.

Ashley Broatch

UX Researcher, Harmoney

People are Ashley’s passion. This, mixed with a good dose of curiosity, empathy and understanding drives her role as Harmoney’s User Experience (UX) researcher.

Ashley has previously collaborated with SMBs, corporate and enterprise level customers throughout New Zealand, honing key communication and relationship building skills whilst educating and demonstrating the value of UX along the way.

A firm believer that user experience is truly about problem solving, Ashley is not only a conduit to the end user, she analyses their needs in order to inform Harmoney’s overall customer experience.

Danny Tomsett

CEO, FaceMe

Danny Tomsett is a tech visionary and relentless innovator with a passion for customer experience – so much so that under his leadership, FaceMe was the winner of the Sir Richard Branson ‘Virgin Business challenge’; and in 2018, FaceMe was recognised at the ‘Deloitte Fast 50’ NZ awards as one of the country’s fastest growing businesses, with revenue growth of 317%.

Danny leads the FaceMe team, with specific focus on raising capital for expansion as well as strategic direction. He has a successful entrepreneurial track record – founding and exiting a Telecommunications company he started at 25, before starting FaceMe.

FaceMe is passionate about people and how we can use technology to change people’s lives. FaceMe enables companies to reimagine the customer experience of the future through a conversational platform designed around leveraging the ‘human touch’ to create amazing customer experiences.

Andrew Dentice

Technology Lawyer, Hudson Gavin Martin

Andrew is a technology lawyer at Hudson Gavin Martin – with a focus on Fintech, data, and “as a Service” business models.

Andrew sits on the Executive Council for Fintech NZ and is a member of the NZ Fintech Regulatory Roundtable (a cross-industry group considering key regulatory issues in financial services and technology).

Prior to joining HGM, Andrew led the Fintech & Innovation legal practice at Barclays in the UK, where he was responsible for providing strategic advice on the bank’s technology and innovation projects in areas like cloud, cyber security and open banking.

Nicole Buisson

Xero

Nicole Buisson is Small Business Director at Xero, a dynamic and expanding SaaS company, headquartered in New Zealand, providing beautiful cloud based software to the world.

She has over 17 years of experience in growth strategy, ventures, start-up acceleration, international expansion, business development and product development working across the software, telecommunications, finance and private equity industries. She is passionate about small business and innovation and technology as growth drivers.

Having worked across 8 countries in 4 continents Nicole subscribes to the value of diversity, the merit of alternative angles and global best practices. Nicole holds an MBA from London Business School and Columbia University, and holds degrees in marketing and psychology from the University of Otago. She also studied at the University of California at Berkeley (Haas School of Business), and the China European International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai.

Nick Summerfield

Partner, Anthony Harper

He is a financial services expert and works with clients across all sectors on a range of financial services matters. He advises on all areas of financial services law including investment funds (such as KiwiSaver), insurance, capital markets (with a particular focus on debt capital markets), financial adviser law, and financial service provider regulation. Nick also advises on the Takeovers Code and NZX Listing Rule compliance, and on dealings with regulators.

Nick has a deep understanding of the financial services industry. His clients regard him as a trusted adviser who takes the time to understand their business and provide solutions that fit.

With over 23years in the industry (more than half his life) Dan has held various senior roles with New Zealand’s largest insurance companies and broking firms.

Dan’s vision is to disrupt the insurance value chain which is bloated with cost rather than actual value.

Carole Barnay

Head of Data Science Research, Xero

Carole Barnay leads Xero’s Data Science Research and Prototyping team in Auckland and Canberra. Their primary focus is to work on ways to propel Xero forward by using the information hidden in vast amounts of data, and delivering even better customer experiences through AI and machine learning driven product enhancements. The team’s job is to push the boundaries in what can be done with data science and machine learning, with the aim of building the future of accounting.

Carole’s knowledge is built on an academic foundation of Physics and Meteorology, with a decade of applied statistics and consulting experience in a range of industries including Energy, Telco, Utilities, Retail, Public Sector, and Agriculture. Carole is a founding member of the NZ Analytics Forum, and is a member of the AI council working group on ‘Trusted data use in AI’.

Maxine Eliot

Chief Product & Marketing Officer, Paymark

Maxine joined Paymark in November 2017 after working in the telecommunications and fibre industry for over 14 years.

She has experience as a General Manager and CEO in wholesale and B2B markets. With a background in marketing, her experience spans from development of high-level strategy to business start-up and hands on implementation of business plans in global and local organisations.

Michael Moyes

Partner, Anthony Harper

Michael leads our specialist practices in Intellectual Property and Technology, Media & Telecommunications and works closely with our Corporate Advisory team. He has practiced law for 17 years in leading firms in Australia and New Zealand.

Michael is ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ in the 2018 Legal 500 Asia Pacific Guide and in the Chambers & Partners Directory, received a New Zealand Law Award for his involvement in a complex transaction for the sale of one of his technology clients to Germany based Wirecard AG (Mid-Market Deal of the Year), and was recognised in the 2016 NZ Lawyer magazine’s ‘Hot List’ as one of the country’s top 30 Lawyers for his contribution to the country’s legal landscape. Michael is recommended by clients for his innovative, strategic and commercial approach to contracts and advice.

Krissy Sadler-Bridge

Head of Marketing, MYOB

Krissy is based in Christchurch and heads up MYOB’s marketing team in New Zealand. She has more than 12 years’ experience developing and executing marketing campaigns across traditional and digital platforms.

Krissy is passionate about helping businesses realise the benefits of new technologies to deliver more success. Prior to joining MYOB, Krissy spent 9 years working in the financial services sector in London predominately in offshore banking.

She held several senior marketing roles at Barclays Wealth and holds a Master of Business Management and Marketing from the University of Bath.

Karen Teoh

Chief Operating Officer, Kommerce

Karen is a former litigation lawyer with more than 10 years of subsequent experience in privately funded startups in the document management and online platform space. She has built out products incorporating both hardware and software elements, from proof of concept to point of sale.

Karen’s strong organisational ability and her skill at getting to speed quickly while diving in-depth into new spaces, allows the team to bring high level business cases to technical execution.

Ossie Amir

Co-founder & Blockchain Lead, Choice

Ossie has founded organisations which span across artificial intelligence, renewable nanocarbon technology, and third-world labour equality. He is now taking on the payments industry with Choice.

Choice are connecting payments APIs with New Zealand's physical terminal fleet to create a better domestic payments infrastructure. Choice allows Kiwis to pay merchants with their phones by scanning a QR code on a terminal.

Half of the Choice transaction fee gets redirected to a charity of the consumer's choice, bringing payments together with social impact, and creating a bottom line for all Kiwis. Choice utilises blockchain to transparently track and trace the social impact made by each payment, allowing the system to be globally scalable.